The UK suffers from the worst levels of poverty of any neighbouring country, according to new research.
The analysis from the authoritative House of Commons Library revealed that the UK has 11.7 per cent of people living in relative poverty under internationally accepted measures.
This puts the UK behind all thirteen neighbouring countries in north west Europe ranging from Iceland at 4.9 per cent to Ireland at nine per cent and Germany with 10.4 per cent of their populations in poverty.
The SNP said the figures, using OECD data, show that the UK has a significantly higher poverty rate than the average for independent countries of Scotland’s size and has had the worst or second-worst poverty rate in every single year since UK data was first recorded in 2002.
The data was revealed as the as Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the Tory government plans to slash Universal Credit payments for six million families by £1040 a year from September.
The move has been described as “catastrophic” by the Children’s Commissioner for Scotland, who has warned the cuts would “effectively knock out the benefits that the Scottish Child Payment brings”.
David Linden MP, the SNP Work and Pensions spokesman, demanded an urgent U-turn from the chancellor but with little expectation of a hearing.
He said: “Rishi Sunak’s plans to slash Universal Credit payments by £1040 a year for six million families, and impose a public sector pay freeze, will inevitably make this crisis even worse and push more people into hardship and deprivation. There must be an urgent U-turn.
“The cold hard reality is there will be no fair recovery at Westminster. The only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts and build a fairer society is to become an independent country, with the full powers needed to secure a strong, fair and equal recovery and eradicate poverty.”
The Scottish government has this week come under pressure from poverty campaigners to double the £10 a week Scottish Child payment immediately, rather than wait until towards the end of the parliamentary term.
Linden said: “For every step we take forward to tackle poverty in Scotland, Westminster is dragging us backwards again with Tory cuts. The SNP government is putting money into people’s pockets with progressive policies like the Scottish Child Payment but Tory cuts to Universal Credit will effectively cancel this out, wiping out progress we’ve made.”
